Improved centrifugal governor



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m P m 5 7 a [Val/690% iffinessas) NPETERS. PHOTD-LITHOGRAPHER, WASHINGTON. D. C.

To an whom itmay concern;

Be itknownthat I, JAMEs M. DILLON, ofv I Wheeling, in the county of Ohio and State of Virginia,have invented. a new and-Improved e Centrifugal Governor for Steam-Engines and other Motors; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, in which- I I I I b Figure l is a central verticalsection of the 5 governor, and Fig. 2 isa plan of the same.

I Similarletters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the two figures.

This governor is composed of a central chamber secured to and surrounding a concentric vertical rotating shaft deriving motion from the engine or other motor, and having at- .tached to it by hollow arms other chambers arranged at convenient and suitable distances from the said shaft; such chambers containing j mercury, which is caused, by the-centrifugal force developed in the chambersby their revolution with theshaft, to be driven in greater- I or less quantityfrom the central into the other chambers, accordingfto. the velocityoftheir revolution, and. the said central chamber having arranged within it above the mercury a float or flexible diaphragm, which is caused to fall and rise with the mercury in the said chamber, and so, bymeans of suitable connections, to operate upon the regulatingvalveof the engine ormotor in such manner as to give it a less or greater opening, according as more I I more or less mercury is expelled from the said chamber by the greater or less centrifugal force, due to a greater or less velocity of revolution,

. and so to regulate the speed of the engine. I r e To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention, I will proceed to describe its construction and operation.

A is the shaft, intended to be arranged in suitable, bearings and to derive motion from I the engine or motor to be governedthrough a band running round apulley, P, or by other means, at a suitable velocity, which is constant relatively to the velocity of the engine .or motor. H o B is the central chamber, of iron, secured firmly to the upper end 'of the shaft A. O O are the hollowconnecting-arms, two or JAMEsM; DI LofN, on WHEELING, VIRGINIA.

:iMPRoVao CENTRIFUGAL GOVERNOR.

Specification forming part of LcttersPatent No. 35,589, dated J une 17, 1862.

ber, D, to the said central chamber, the said arms being of iron and the said chambers of iron, or partly .of iron and partly of glass, the said arms being arranged to form the connections between the chambers at or near their several bottoms.

E is a diaphragm, of india-rubber or other flexible material impervious to mercury, covering the mercury in the central chamber, 13, i and secured at its edges by means of a metal cover, Ct, fastened on the top of the chamber. F is a rod connecting the center of the diaphragm Ewith an arm, I), fastened on the spindle of the butterfly or other regulating valve H applied in the pipe G, which supplies the steam or other motive agent to the engine or other motor, the connection of the said rod with the said arm consisting of a grooved collar, d, on the rod, receiving in its groove the end of the arm, or of other means which permit the free rotation of the rod with the shaft A and mercury-chambers, and the valve being arranged to close. by a downward movement of the arm 12' and open by an upward movement thereof. The chambers D D are closed at thetop by air-tight cups 6 e, secured in place by screw-bolts f f and nuts 9 g, the said bolts passing centrally through and having their lower ends secured at the bottoms of a the said chambers.

The several, chambers are filled with mercur-y to such a height that when the governor is at rest and the mercury is under the influence of gravitation alone it passes the dia is convex, as shown in black outlinein Fig. 1, in which condition of the diaphragm the rod F and arm I) are raised to such a position that the valve has the greatest amount of opening required. As centrifugal force is developed in the mercury by the revolution of the governor the mercury is driven from the chamber B through the arms 0 G. into the chambers D D, so that while the mercury is caused to rise in D D it falls in B and permits the diaphragm E to descend more or'less, and so permits the rod F and arm I) to move downward and contract the opening of the valve more or less, according as the said face is caused to be greater or less by the greater or less Velocity of revolution of the motor and the governor, as is p more in number,; each rigidly attaching a cha n illustrated by the red outlines in Fig. 1,which phragm E upward, so that its upper surface represent the condition of the mercury, the diaphragm, and the valve at the highest velocity, the valve being closed, or nearly so. The return of the mercury from the chambers G G by gravitation to the chamber 13, and the consequent opening of the valve when a reduction of the velocity takes place, is assisted by the expansion of the air which has been compressed by the previous use of the mercury in the former chambers, and the governor is very sensitive and quick in its action on the engine or motor.

This governor works with much less friction than the ball-governor, owing to the absence of workingjoints; and another advantage which it possesses over that, as well as over other governors, consists in its preventing a steam-engine from starting off at a great ve herein specified.

JAMES M. DILLON.

WVitnesses:

J. B. HUGHES, I. MELVIN RICHARDS.

substantially as 

